Film Review: Hurensohn (The Whore's Son)

This is not a film for children or a film for everyone; you either like it or dislike it. Released in 2004, this film is based on the novel by Gabriel Loidolt. It's only eighty-six minutes long and spoken in German with English subtitles. I was glued to the TV and have watched Hurensohn (The Whore's Son) numerous times!

Silvija, (Chulpan Khamatova) pictured above, has a sweet son named Ozren, (Stanislav Lisnic) pictured below. Ozren is called "the whore's son" by various people in the neighborhood. At a young age he doesn't know what this means so he asks around and is told his mother is a prostitute. When he asks her what she does for a living she says she's a waitress and even his uncle and aunt confirm her story. However, he notices she brings men home on occasion and is dressed too provocatively when she goes to work. No matter what he is told  he doesn't want to believe his mother is a prostitute. As he grows older, we see Orzen evolve from a young naive boy to a suspicious persistent young man earnestly seeking the truth. When Orzen is around 16, his mother decides to move out but leave him behind expressing that the apartment is too small for two people. She promises to send money, buy clothes for him, and promises that he'll never want for anything. She keeps her promise but he is disturbed that she never left him an address of where she will be staying or a phone number. He doesn't want to be away from his mother so he investigates attempting to find out where she is living. In the meantime, he ironically works as a janitor at a whore house. At one point, he sees her in town talking to a business man in a suit at a restaurant. When they leave they enter an expensive car and Orzen gets in a cab asking the driver to follow his mother. When the fancy car stops at a stoplight, Silvija runs out of the car yelling and threatening to have them arrested for sexual harassment. She doesn't even acknowledge her son, treating him like a stranger. That night she talks to him on the phone and demands he never spy on her again.

Silvija switches from being an endearing, protective, and affectionate mother to a snippy, enraged, distant mother. There are times when the audience believes she truly loves Ozren and there are times when the audience is convinced she views him as a liability and a pest. She hugs him, kisses him, and financially takes care of him like a mother would but leaves him with his aunt and uncle often and maintains a certain level of distance that even the audience feels. It is uncomfortable to watch because the love they have for each other is clearly present but something is blocking access to that love. The saddest portion of the film occurs when Ozren sees his mother for who she is and she is unable to lie her way out of the truth. Their reaction is heartbreaking and it will be difficult to not feel for the characters.  What happens after this truth has been disclosed will be even more shocking.

The music score is ironic. It is reminiscent of a German folk dance bordering on comical; almost poking fun at the folly of Ozren and Silvija for living in a world of denial and obliviousness. None the less, the score is gorgeous. It features a small string ensemble and percussion section highlighting a few march sequences which are jolly in and of itself but coupled with the film, adds a pleasurable paradox.

Directed by Michael Sturminger; written by Michael Glawogger and Michael Sturminger, Hurensohn (The Whore's Son) will surely make you think and encourage you to contemplate what it means to be a mother and how mothers shape us.